We sleep in 90 minutes sleep cycles at the end of each of which, we are lightly asleep or actually awake (which we may or may not remember the next day), a state which allows us to scan our environment for danger. This is the time when we would naturally be roused by the crowing of cockerel or the awareness of dawn, in the days when we did not have alarm clocks. This is the part of our sleep when we naturally want to wake up because we are the most lightly asleep. If you’re startled from deep within a sleep cycle, particularly in the first half of the night where you’re most deeply sleep, you can experience sleep inertia, which makes you feel groggy and significantly affects your ability to think clearly.
If you typically wake groggy in the morning, or find that you are snoozing a lot, it may be that either you’re not getting enough sleep (listen to my expert conversation with Dr Caitlin Chasser at 30:07 and 40:08, where we talk about this), or that you are waking deep within a sleep cycle. (Or that there is something else going on like obstructive sleep apnoea, so any concerns, go and see your doctor.)
Things you can do
Get enough, good quality sleep, consistently
To feel well rested, you need to get enough (length), good quality (depth) sleep. Consistency is also crucial to support our circadian rhythm and our sleep quality, possibly even more important than the length of sleep that we get
You can track your sleep using sleep trackers. These can be worn on the body (finger, wrist, arm, chest, etc), or not (on your phone or under your mattress, etc). Alternatively, you can manually record your sleep patterns, using a sleep diary. You can also have formal sleep studies done privately or via your GP.
Some people get anxious about, or obsessed with, tracking their sleep, something called Orthosomnia. If this is the case for you, either don’t use trackers, or check them less frequently, e.g. once a week, to minimise constant monitoring.
You can track your sleep manually, using body worn trackers, or non-body worn apps or devices. Photo credit: Cottonbro studio
'Do sleep trackers really work' from Johns Hopkins Medicine is here, and advice around taking your tracking with a pinch of salt from Calm is here.
Design your sleep in order to wake light. Photo credit: Andrea Piacquadio
One way to wake light in your sleep cycle is to design your sleep length intentionally. Ideally for this, you wouldn't be woken randomly in the night, e.g. by children, partners or pets:
Work out the time that you want to wake
Work back from that time in 90 minute blocks with sufficient total sleep for you (feel free to tweak these according to personal tracking as everyone is slightly different)
Add the time it takes you to fall asleep (usually 10-20 minutes) to identify the time you want to switch your lights out.
Set a digital sunset/wind down alarm an hour prior to that.
A second way to wake light is to use a light clock (like a Lumie lamp) to simulate dawn. E.g. You could create a 30 minute ‘dawn’ around the time that you want to wake, and then have a back up alarm on your phone or alarm clock in case you don’t.
Sometimes snoozing is just too tempting and it feels impossible to get out of bed.
Having your phone alarm out of reach is one option, or ingenious solutions like Clocky (an alarm clock on wheels) is another. Mel Robbin's 5 second rule is also helpful, where you aren't allowed to think until you have counted from 5->1 and your feet are on the floor.
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Is there anything missing that you’re looking for? Or anything that has been useful for you that you would like to share? Any niche requests for recommendations? I would love to hear from you.
